Space Hotel Slated to Open in 2012

Start
planning that vacation to outer space: The first space hotel is expected to
open as soon as 2012, it was reported today.

The hotel, "Galactic
Suites," will allow adventurous
travelers to enjoy a spectacular starry view from their hotel rooms, see
the Sun rise 15 times a day and take part in scientific experiments while
they?re not using Velcro suits to crawl around their pod-room walls.

The trip
won't be cheap though--a three-day stay will cost around $4 million, according
to Reuters.

There were
a few design kinks the company that is creating the hotel had to work out too,
especially those involving water.

"It's
the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," company director
Xavier Claramunt told Reuters. "How to accommodate the more intimate
activities of the guests is not easy."

But they
have found a solution to the problem of how to allow guests to shower:
a spa room where guests can float around in bubbles of water.

And forget "around
the world in 80 days"-- guest will travel around the world in 80 minutes.

The hotel
was no more than a dream of Claramunt's until a generous space enthusiast
fronted the $3 billion needed to build the hotel.

An American
company aimed at colonizing Mars has invested in the hotel, which will be built
from pods connected in a molecule-like structure, Reuters reported. Other
private investors in Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are
also in talks to invest in the company.

It is up in
the air as to how many people would be eager to make the
trip into space for a weightless hotel stay.

"We
have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to
stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend money on going into space,
we just don't know," Claramunt told Reuters.